Kano Assembly plans life imprisonment for kidnappers

A bill to provide life imprisonment as punishment for kidnappers in Kano State on Monday scaled the second reading at the State House of Assembly.

The Deputy Majority Leader, Alhaji Maifada Bello, had read the Kidnapping, Abduction and Forced Labour Amendment Bill before the Assembly.

According to Bello, member representing Kibiya Constituency, the immediate amendment of the bill was necessary to enable Judges in the state judge the kidnappers according to their offence.

“The law that provides punishment for the kidnappers has been in existence since 1963; therefore, it should be amended to go with the current rampant kidnapping and abduction cases in the state.

“It can also assist the judges to judge anyone found guilty of such offence according to their offence, because the current law that provides 10 years imprisonment made it difficult for the judges to judge such criminals,” Bello said.

He said the case of kidnapping needed to be handled in such a way that the criminals would rather surrender by themselves.

He said the House would do everything possible to ensure serious punishment on them.

Bello noted that cases of kidnapping in the state had gone beyond imagination, to the extent that the criminals were carrying out their activities not only in the rural areas, but also in the urban centres.

During the plenary session, the Speaker of the House of Assembly, Alhaji Kabiru Rurum, read a letter presented to the House by the Gov. Dr Abdullahi Ganduje, seeking for the amendment of the 2016 Supplementary Budget.

Rurum said that according to the letter, the amendment proposal was as a result of the stabilisation funds realised by the state government, which was worth over N20 billion.

He said the amendment would assist the government in fulfilling its campaign promises through completion of the on-going development projects in the state.